Solano County Grand Jury Report on City Attorneys Shows Dixon Paying High Amount

White also on Track for $900k from Dixon Again in New Budget

The Grand Jury has issued a formal report of their study on City Attorneys in each of the seven cities in Solano County. The results would not surprise Dixon residents.
According to the report, the City of Dixon has the highest per capita expenditures for legal fees. It also shows Dixon has had the sharpest increase in those fees since 2013.
The Dixon legal expenses for 2017 was $46.53 per capita; up from $27.43 in 2016 and a huge increase from the $18.917 as recently as 2013. The legal expenses for Dixon have dramatically increased since Doug White and his legal firm Churchwell-White was granted the contract.
By comparison, the next highest per capita legal expenses in 207 was in Benicia at $29.79. In 2016 Benicia spent $21.93 for those expenses, and in 2014 only $17.62.
The lowest legal expenditures in 2017 was by Suisun City at only $6.05 cents per capita. Suisun spent $5.16 per capita in 2016 and $6.28 per capita in 2013.
Other Solano cities’ legal expenses in 2017 were:
Fairfield, $9.40; Rio Vista, $16.39; Vacaville, $11.51; Vallejo, $27.53
In Total expenditures for all legal related matters in the 2017 Fiscal Year, Dixon was barely less than Fairfield or Vacaville. Those totals were:
Benicia: $824,962; Dixon: $989,019; Fairfield: $1,073,526; Rio Vista: $147.857; Suisun City: $177,147; Vacaville: $1,132,771; Vallejo: $3,255,821
Of the seven cities, three have in-house attorneys: Benicia, Vacaville, and Vallejo.
Four, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, and Suisun City have outside contracted attorneys.
Dixon’s ranking as the highest for legal expenses is not likely to be changed in the coming Fiscal Year 2019. The City Council has approved a budget including $900,000 for legal expenses in the year starting on July 1.
Churchwell-White only a few months earlier this year was contracted by the City of Atwater, which he billed for over $100,000 in the first two months, and another $65,000 for May. At the council meeting this past Tuesday, Councilman Devon Minnema again urged that Dixon switch to in-house staff City Attorney. Minnema included that idea when he successfully ran for council in the November 2016 election.